Before I start this let me point out the following: This isn't a post to draw hate towards the moderator team, it is to try and reach out to them to get them re-involved with the community again.
In this previous meta discussion about the moderator team two conclusions appear to have been made:
- "Something should be done" - The majority of the community.
- "Nothing should be done, we're fiiiine" - The moderator team.
Now I was watching this discussion, and was involved in it, quite heavily and I continued to monitor events after it too. Here is my summary of what appears to have happened during the aftermath.
- All of the moderators suddenly emerged from the cracks (make of this what you will)
- Flag handling times were quick and edits/comments and other visible things from the moderator team improved (barely but it's a start)
- ~2-3 days later this died down to almost nothing again
- In the next few weeks moderator only flags seemed to take ~5 hours on average to handle (based off experience and mainly comment flags so adjust the average accordingly)
- Flag handling times last week seem to have stabilised again at ~2 hours (again based off of the above)
However, visible activity by the team has again fallen and we're once again left wondering "Where are the mods?"
Now I wasn't going to point fingers in this post but I think it's important to look at the two moderators who appear to be at either end of the spectrum:
- Rand al'Thor: Is around every day, reviews, edits, comments, is active on meta, is active in chat
- Thaddeus Howze: Was last seen May 31st
Rand is a good example of what we want a moderator to be doing, visibly moderating the site and leading by example. Thaddeus hasn't been seen at all and is a poor example of someone even interested in the site never mind moderating it.
So, what do I think would be a good step? More visible moderation activity. (Not in any particular order, just how they popped into my mind)
- Edit posts
- Be active (i.e. log in to the site)
- Comment
- Handle flags and other moderator only business (obviously not exactly visible and should go without saying)
- Active on meta
- Active in chat
- Review (not necessarily important but if one is sitting there for a while and the community hasn't handled it why not handle it?)
- Delete low quality, R/A and spam posts (only >10k users can see this)
- etc.
All of this tells the community you are still alive and kicking and keeps our faith in you. You were elected to moderate and lead this community, please reward us with your continued effort in it.